My Journey With Base: At-home lab tests for measuring Stress, Energy, Sleep & More
Bloodwork, otherwise known as lab testing or just “labs” is a laboratory analysis performed on a sample of blood, saliva, urine or related. Labs are typically requested by primary care physicians at annual physicals, and the results are often shared in a follow-up visit or not at all, if everything is “normal.” What’s tested varies slightly depending on the doctor or patient’s preference, though for many people (myself included) testing anything “extra” can be challenging, expensive, and confusing.
FUN FACT: “NORMAL” DOESN’T NECESSARILY MEAN “OPTIMAL.” WHAT’S OPTIMAL DEPENDS BOTH ON YOUR SPECIFIC HEALTH AND A DIFFERENT (NARROWER) RANGE. SO WHILE IT’S REASSURING TO KNOW THAT EVERYTHING IS “NORMAL,” IF YOU’RE AIMING FOR IDEAL, THAT MAY NOT BE GOOD ENOUGH!
In a perfect world, testing our internal health would be affordable, understandable, and to a reasonable degree, within our control. As an herbalist and holistic health practitioner, I regularly work with clients who have their lab results but have no idea what they mean, or how to improve them with diet, supplements, herbs. While it’s my pleasure to assist, I can’t legally send clients to labs, nor receive the results on their behalf (unless it’s food allergy testing, which I do).
Enter Base, affordable, at-home lab tests for measuring and improving diet, sleep, stress, fatigue and more. Yes!
Base reached out to me to see if I’d be interested in testing their product and not only did I say absolutely yes, but also rattled off a laundry list of ways in which I saw it fitting right into what I do every single day with clients, and a service that’s very much in-demand.I personally wanted to take all of their tests (more on that shortly) but also to recommend Base testing for most of my clients, and all of you who ask me about where/how/what to test.
Before referring the world to Base though, I had to test it of course. (Also love testing things, which if you know me, you know.) Base currently offers testing related to: Energy, Sleep, Sex Drive, Stress & Diet. Because I’m not currently struggling with any noticeable health issues, I chose to measure my Stress, Energy and Sleep. I was most curious about the markers measured in those tests (cortisol, melatonin) and because I tend to have SO much energy that I was interested to learn if it was truly healthy, or an excess of cortisol, for example.
Taking the tests at home was easy, and fun if you’re biohacking-inclined! (A tip for the low-circulation or slow pulse folks: Stand up with your hand below your heart to help blood flow down, which speeds things up.) After gathering my blood and saliva samples, I simply mailed the packets in and then hung out on the app, waiting for my results.
Watch a video of my first tests here, or below.
Results are in!
Base aims to turn results around in 5 business days, and mine were clearly delivered via the app, with percentage breakdowns that showed where I am compared to what’s ideal, and what also - best of all - what to do with my results. Here’s the breakdown:
Stress Score (cortisol evening + cortisol morning + cortisol night): 63 “great”
Energy Score (HbA1c + Vitamin D): 74 “great”
Sleep Score (melatonin evening + melatonin night + melatonin morning): 58 “good”
Watch my initial VIP consultation with a Base team member.
I already owned a stash of melatonin, but had been avoiding using it for a few reasons (preferred not to supplement directly but rather support my body’s natural production of it; didn’t want to be drowsy; didn’t want to create a dependency). Herbalism is warming up to melatonin as a possible adaptogen (!) so I was glad for the nudge to start using it and began a nightly dose of 5mg, which was coincidentally the dose I owned, and the amount recommended in the Base app.
While I keep an eye on their recommendations for optimizing cortisol and melatonin levels, which I plan to re-test in another 6 - 12 months, I’m far too excited about learning more about my body to wait that long for more tests in general. So, I’ve decided to move on to testing B Vitamins (Folate, B12 and B6) and Iron (Iron, Ferritin, Transferrin, TIBC) - both sets of markers being especially important for a plant-based person. (Eventually, I’d also like to run some tests with Supernatural’s herbal products - for example, measuring the effects of eating HRBLS everyday on cortisol levels!) I completed my third and fourth set of sample collections this weekend and am eagerly awaiting the next leg of this journey.
Clearly, I’m a big fan of what Base is doing for at-home lab testing. The medical community believes in the value of these results for everyone and yet it’s been largely inaccessible for many people for long enough. The ability to easily monitor specific biomarkers that matter to us is not only really fun, but can be invaluable in both better understanding our health, and keeping it on the rails.
I’ve only just begun, and do hope you’ll do the same.
Begin your journey here. Code “supernatural” for 20% off!
Continue to follow my journey with Base on Instagram.
This post is sponsored by Base.
